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Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: RetiredNow who wrote (320447)	1/13/2007 2:11:36 PM
From: TimF	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 1574487

Increasing tax rates would hurt the middle class, and the working poor, even if their rates don't get increased.

To: RetiredNow who wrote (320447)	1/14/2007 11:45:39 AM
From: tejek	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1574487

Only Environmental Bill in First 100 Hours Up for Vote WASHINGTON, DC, January 12, 2007 (ENS) - The last of the six designated bills up for consideration during the House Democrats' first 100 legislative hours is the legislative program's only environmental measure. Introduced today with 199 cosponsors, H.R.6 will shift roughly $13 billion in oil industry subsidies toward renewable energy and energy efficiency. The House is scheduled to vote on H.R. 6 on January 18. Specifically, the measure ensures oil companies that were awarded the 1998 and 1999 leases for drilling paid their fair share in royalties. It also closes loopholes and ends giveaways in the tax code for Big Oil, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says on her website. The bill creates a Strategic Renewable Energy Reserve to invest in clean, renewable energy resources, promoting new emerging technologies, developing greater efficiency and improving energy conservation. Over the last several years, profits and subsidies for Big Oil have climbed, as has our dependence on foreign oil, Pelosi says. In 2006, the big five oil companies made $97 billion - nearly five times their profits in 2002. Gas prices have topped $3 per gallon at the pump. The United States now has a record dependence on foreign oil, which has climbed to 65 percent, and the country is sending about $800 million per day to the Middle East and other oil producing countries. Reducing our dependence on foreign oil is critical to bolstering our national security and creating good-paying new jobs. American farms abound with crops that can be used to fuel our cars and trucks - from corn to soybeans to switchgrass," Pelosi points out. In 2005, the ethanol industry supported the creation of more than 150,000 jobs in all sectors of the U.S. economy, boosting U.S. household income by $5.7 billion, according to a report for the Renewable Fuels Association. Pelosi says that the President's current budget funds renewable energy and energy efficiency at below the 2001 level, in real terms, and provides nearly 50 percent less for research on renewable energy than was promised in the energy law. The Independent Petroleum Association of America, IPAA, is opposed to the measure. "If the goal is to lessen our dependence on foreign oil, then this bill falls far short," said IPAA President Barry Russell today. "The American oil and natural gas industry is our most precious and primary defense against increased oil imports," Russell said. "This is a time to encourage American investment in energy projects here at home, not discourage it. This bill takes capital from U.S. oil and natural gas companies that otherwise would be spent on domestic energy exploration." The IPAA represents more than 5,000 oil and natural gas companies, most of them small, independent businesses, who drill 90 percent of the oil and natural gas wells in the United States. But there is broad bipartisan support for ending the addiction to oil by investing in clean renewable fuels, Pelosi says, quoting an Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg poll taken last August that found 52 percent of those surveyed said the U.S. government should invest in alternative energy sources to reduce dependence on foreign oil. The measure is popular with conservationists. "In a 180 degree shift from energy policies that line the pockets of polluting industries, the introduction of H.R. 6 is clear signal that Congress is ready to start solving our energy problems," said Kate Johnson of U.S. PIRG, the federation of state Public Interest Research Groups. "We also commend Speaker Pelosi’s commitment to building a new energy future, and look forward to working with Congress to continue to move America’s energy policy in this new direction well beyond the first 100 hours," said USPIRG. The House has already passed four of the six bills scheduled for the First 100 Hours - anti-terrorism measures, a minimum wage increase, expanding federally funded stem cell research, and a bill to make the government negotiate for lower Medicare prescription drug prices. ens-newswire.com